January 30, 2013

Thirteen of those sometimes annoying young Israelis who stop you in shopping
malls and try to get you to buy Israeli cosmetics made with mud from the
Dead Sea or Dead Sea bath salts were arrested by federal agents last
week in Houston, Texas on immigration violations.

It’s one way to have a harassment-free trip to your local shopping mall.

Thirteen of those sometimes annoying young Israelis who stop you in shopping malls and try to get you to buy Israeli cosmetics made with mud from the Dead Sea or Dead Sea bath salts were arrested by federal agents last week in Houston, Texas on immigration violations, The Houston Chronicle reports.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents made the busts of the Israelis and one Moldavian Wednesday night as they were selling cosmetics and bath salts in The Galleria and The Woodlands shopping malls. They were detained “on administrative charges of remaining in the U.S. beyond the expiration date of their tourist and student visas,” an ICE spokesman told the paper.

ICE has not released the names of those arrested, and no deportation or other information is available.

In 2011 federal agents arrested several known members of Israeli organized crime syndicates in Las Vegas and their hired enforcers. They pleaded guilty to charges including extortion in an attempt to take over shopping mall kiosks.

In January 2010, Shai Golan, an Israeli who managed kiosks in the Mexican resort town of Cancun was kidnapped, allegedly by competitors. However an investigation by Ha’aretz found that Golan was an escaped fugitive wanted in both the US and Canada for a long series of frauds. He allegedly used extortion, threats of violence and actual violence – including alleged having shots fired at the building the kiosk workers resided in and then shooting directly into theior apartment – to take over a mall kiosk company in Cancun. The kidnapping may have been staged by Golan himself or he may have been “kidnapped after cheating 'the wrong person,’” an LAPD detective told Ha’aretz. "This man is a master of fraud. He is certainly not an innocent man; he knows what he is doing," the detective said.

It is not clear what prompted ICE to investigate the Houston shopping mall kiosks and arrest the Israelis.

Comments

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Funny, I had an incident with one of those kids once in a mall at the DFW area that I will not mention. The kid was selling supposedly water from the Holy Land that made miracles and I asked him if he got the water from a hose on his backyard and then peddled it to unsuspecting buyers. He got angry and pushed me, end of story I called the police, pressed charges, turned out he was illegal and was sent to the migra. I also complained to the Mall management and they did a good job getting rid of them. They are as pesky and annoying as Jehova Witnesses.

now this is news wheew.we even have these genleman doing the same irritating behaviour in our small outside america, malls. we just laugh at them and greet with a SHALOM and keep moving . any way time for a bit of light hearted news.

It's about time the cops stop turning the other cheek on these good for nothings. May the clampdown spread from Houston to Los Angeles. Good riddance mall workers and your crappy products!!

Posted by: Ro Shashana | January 30, 2013 at 01:12 AM

these are kids...after they have served in the army...that are not hanging out in india for a year but trying to make it here.
they're so nice. leave them alone.
personally, you sound like a miserable person....maybe you need to buy some of their products or maybe invite them to your house for shabbat.....you might develop a kinder attitude.
these are fellow jews...who would risk their lives for you if something happened to you at the mall. think.

Comon. They also have to eat. They also got to support their chicks who they bang. I can't say that have to support the local synagogue or temple. I also can't that have to pay rent. So they hang out in the mall making a living.

Now if Nobama would let immigration get rid of all the illegal annoying Hispanics floating around that would be great.

Seems 10 immigration agents are suing the Nobama administration in federal court.if I understood correctly the agents are claiming that Nobamas executive orders preventing agents from arresting and deporting many illegals is causing the agents to violate their oath of office.

Apparently they have a case. And this will end up in the Supreme court no matter who wins the initial trial.

Being annoyed by these kids at a Mall is far less annoying then what goes on the streets of long island everyday with these illegal aliens.

The Justice Department selectively enforces the law. These young people happened to get caught. Maybe they annoyed someone with clout who managed to get the Federales to respond.

Many of the Latinos who are in this country illegally work very hard and do work that most of us would not want to do. Last year, when our town was doing a downtown improvement project with American Reinvestment Act money, I noticed that many of the workers spoke Spanish. I doubt that all of them had US citizenship or even green cards.

Their US born children will not want to do this kind of hard work and some may end up working in illegal activities. The well paying factory jobs that were available 20 or 30 years ago have largely disappeared.

are you comparing the israeli army to the mexican army.
not only would those israeli's save us in a heartbeat...
they would save mexicans too.
and i'm sure the mexicans would do the same.
but the israeli's have better training and great survival instinct/brains/army training.
does mexico even have an army.

I never buy their products but always give them 5-10 bucks for lunch in the mall. They're trying to earn a living and are on their feet all day. Most companies won't hire them because they overstayed their Visas and are now illegal.

they arent artists unless you mean con-artists. the boss orders hundreds of cheap art from china for about a dollar or two each and then the young israelis go to gullible people, mainly jews and claim they are struggling artists. they try to get $10 or $15 each and the profits are split. my own nephew was doing exactly this as part of a crew some years ago.

ah-pee-chorus...
it's not like they're charging 100 or 150.
let them be.
they served in the army.
they're young.
they still don't make a lot.
they're not con-artists.
and if they are...then a lot of working people are too.

these are kids...after they have served in the army...that are not hanging out in india for a year but trying to make it here.
they're so nice. leave them alone.

agree -- hard working people trying to start their lives after having their early adult years robbed from them by being drafted, when others their age are in college getting an education/skills. live and let be. and get a job yourself.

These people are total scumbags. In my mall they have resorted to bullying people who refuse to deal with them. When you walk past and ignore their "can I ask you a question" nonsense they start making derogatory remarks about you to provoke you into speaking to them. It's abuse plain and simple and it's only a matter of time before one of them gets their ass kicked. Why are these people allowed to harass anyone walking past them?

I am a business owner and I can't get into any mall in the country because of these poor israeli kids as you said, these poor kids making big money between $1500 to $2000 a WEEK!!! A lot of money right?
The cart or kiosk owner making MIllions Of dollars we are talking about big big money!!! They are just collecting money from sales but they are not paying any tax here in the USA.

So please stop talking about these poor kids.
Now tell. Me please who is the poor one?

I was hired by a nall kiosk my boss is jewish and so i know thier system he makes so much money i met tons of illegals bit hell they gave me a job i make 100 or two hundred a day i get thosand dollar pay checthey take care of you like family i dnt see a problem